Micron and the Myth of American Memory

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Micron and the Myth of American Memory [Opinion] A rush to patriotism could be the undoing of America's last hope

Tim Culpan Aug 19, 2026

Good evening from Taipei, If Micron’s corporate life were to be written like a human biography, the opening chapter would read something like this: Born in a basement — the child of semiconductor engineeers and an Idaho potato farmer — Micron dabbled in design and processors before settling on memory chips. It headed overseas as a young adult to find fame and fortune in far off lands. “BOISE, Idaho” is stamped on the start of every press release and earnings announcement, as much the hallmark of a bygone era as a statement about its hometown. Boise remains its official headquarters — where decisions are made and money is counted — but if we are to place a company according to where it actually conducts its business, then Micron hasn’t been an American-chip maker for a decade, maybe two.

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Culpium, by Tim Culpan reply rules

dude 6h

Liked by Tim Culpan

Sobering read. I hadn't really given the announced Cap Ex much weight, given the NY fab isn't still up and running yet. Seemed more like a number to placate the executive. However, seeing it in context with Samsung and SK Hynix's announced spending does add weight to it. On the general ecosystem side, are there enough regional players to support such an expansion? At least with TSMC Arizona, there was decades of suppliers that had clustered in Arizona due to the Motorola and Intel fabs. ASML had their first customer support office in AZ? New York? IBM and Global foundries are in the New York area. On the DMV side ASML has a service office in Virgina. There is a base there. How quickly it they'll be able to scale up is another matter. Given the pace of building out the Micron fab in New York, I think it's clear more needs to be done on the state side. Both in being able to scale up the businesses that will support these fabs, and actually making the idea of manufacturing palpable at the local and state level.

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Micron and the Myth of American Memory

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